Romanian Nationals Charged with Participating in Multimillion Dollar Scheme to Hack into and Steal Credit Card Data from U.S. Merchants

The Department of Justice announced today that four Romanian nationals have been charged for their alleged participation in a multimillion dollar scheme to hack into and steal payment card data from merchants’ point of sale (POS) systems in the U.S.

According to the Department of Justice, Adrian-Tiberiu Oprea (27), Iulian Dolan (27), Cezar Iulian Butu (26), and Florin Radu (23), all from Romania, were charged in a four-count indictment with conspiracy to commit computer fraud, wire fraud and access device fraud.

Oprea was arrested last week in Romania and remains in custody there, while Dolan and Butu were arrested upon their arrival into the United States in August, and are currently in United States custody. Radu remains on the loose.

The indictment alleges that from sometime in 2008 until May 2011, Oprea, Dolan, Butu and Radu conspired to hack into more than 200 U.S.-based merchants’ point-of-sale systems in order to steal customers’ credit card data.

Victims of the attacks include more than 150 Subway restaurants across the United States, as well as more than 50 other identified retailers.

According to the indictment, the hackers compromised the credit card data of more than 80,000 customers, resulting in millions of dollars of unauthorized purchases using compromised card numbers.

The defendants face a maximum of five years in prison for each count of conspiracy to commit computer related fraud, 30 years in prison for each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five years in prison for each count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud. They also face fines up to twice the amount of the fraud loss and restitution.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and was assisted by The Office of International Affairs, part of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. The DOJ said that Subway’s corporate headquarters assisted in the investigation as well.

For more than 10 years, Mike Lennon has been closely monitoring and analyzing trends in the enterprise IT security space and the threat landscape. In his role at SecurityWeek he oversees the editorial direction of the publication and manages several leading security conferences.